Jersey suburbs have few friends in Trenton

NOAH ADDIS/THE STAR-LEDGERAt a recent budget hearing, state Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Joe Doria defended the Corzine administration formula for handing out $145 million in property-tax relief aid to municipalities.

On Tuesday of last week, I wrote a column pointing out that many other states offer their residents an equivalent level of services to New Jersey but with lower taxes.

On Wednesday I saw why.

I attended a meeting of the Senate Budget Committee at which was discussed the topic of special municipal aid. The program in question gives extra state aid to the cities. That aid comes largely from income taxes collected in the suburban and rural parts of the state.

When such programs are proposed in other states, a spirited fight ensues. Representatives of the suburban and rural areas won't impose added costs on their constituents to fund services that primarily benefit the cities.

We saw a good example of that last year in Pennsylvania. Gov. Ed Rendell was pushing a plan to fund mass transit programs in the cities by imposing tolls on Interstate 80, which runs through the rural northern part of the state. The legislators from the rest of the state weren't the least bit shy about telling the former mayor of Philadelphia that the cities could solve their own damn problems. A typical quote came from David G. Argall, a Republican from a rural area. "The governor helped create this crisis by placing the wants of Philadelphians above the needs of countless Pennsylvanians," Argall said.

Well, our governor created our current crisis by placing the needs of our urban residents above the needs of countless New Jerseyans. But Republicans are gaveled down when they even try to bring up that subject in Trenton. I saw that at the Senate Budget Committee hearing Wednesday. Department of Community Affairs Commissioner Joe Doria -- like Rendell, a former urban mayor and a Democrat -- was defending the Corzine administration formula for handing out $145 million in property-tax relief aid to municipalities.

The formula is simple: If you live in a city that already gets a huge amount of property-tax relief money, you will get even more. If you live in a suburb or rural area that gets a minuscule amount of state aid, you're out of luck.

One of the prime recipients is Jersey City, which is slated to get $5 million more in special aid even though it already gets $418 million in property-tax relief for its schools. That's more than twice as much as all the school districts in Morris County combined. It's eight times as much as all the school districts in Hunterdon County combined. But who's counting?

Marcia Karrow is. The state senator from Hunterdon County pointed out that Jersey City has more than 400 employees who make more than $100,000 a year, and some of them got raises of $14,000 or more. Karrow asked: If Jersey City is in such dire financial straits, why not cut some salaries?

The response was classic Democratic demagoguery. State Sen. Sandra Cunningham, who represents Jersey City, accused Karrow of "not being a senator who cares for the community."

Only in New Jersey would a representative be expected to care more about someone else's community than her own. Yet this is the prevailing ethos in Trenton, and try as she might, Karrow could do nothing to dent it. Every time the Republican senator tried to point out how unfair the funding formula is, the Democratic committee chairwoman, Barbara Buono, ruled her out of order.

But don't blame the Democrats. The Republicans are equally responsible for this state of affairs. You will never be given what you don't ask for. And the Republicans in this state are not asking for an equal share of property-tax relief.

After the hearing I got talking to a Republican functionary who shall remain nameless. We discussed the current GOP gubernatorial primary. The conservative candidate, former Bogota mayor, Steve Lonegan, is insisting that state aid should be distributed equally. But former prosecutor Chris Christie, the overwhelming favorite of the party politburo, is avoiding the subject altogether.

I asked why Christie can't do as the Republicans in other states do and demand equal funding for the suburbs. The answer was one I've heard from Trenton insiders for years: Polls show it's a losing proposition. If you told the people of the suburban counties that you would increase their state aid while reducing aid to the cities, you would lose votes in those same suburban counties.

In any other state, anyone who said such a thing would be judged insane and put under 24-hour observation. Yet this is the mainstream view of the New Jersey Republican Party leadership. You may not believe it. But you don't hang around Trenton as much as I do. And I regret to inform you that it is true.

As for those polls, I asked to see them. But I was told they are confidential. But then everything that doesn't exist is confidential.

So if you are a rural or suburban voter who would like to vote for someone to represents your interests in the state capital, you're in the wrong state.